AUSTIN — Three professors at the University of Texas at Austin have sued the state over a new law that will allow the carrying of concealed handguns on campus starting Aug. 1.

Jennifer Lynn Glass, Mia Carter and Lisa Moore filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court. They've named Attorney General Ken Paxton, UT-Austin President Greg Fenves and the nine members of the UT System Board of Regents as defendants. They noted that the law takes effect on the 50th anniversary of the day Charles Whitman stood atop the school's tower and shot dead 14 people.

"In a cruel irony, the Texas Legislature has mandated that fifty years to the day after one of the worst gun-related massacres ever on a college campus ... UT-Austin must begin allowing the concealed carrying of handguns on campus and in classrooms," the professors' attorneys wrote in their brief lawsuit filed Monday. "Worried about much more than cruel irony, the three plaintiff professors seek to at least retain the option of maintaining their academic classrooms as gun-free zones."

"This lawsuit is not only baseless, it is an insult to the millions of law abiding gun owners in Texas and across this country," Paxton said in a statement. "The right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed for all Americans, including college students, and must be vigilantly protected and preserved."

The lawsuit by 3 UT professors is baseless and an insult to millions of law abiding gun owners in Texas. pic.twitter.com/hTrHkhAaE4

Beginning next month, campus carry will allow anyone with a state-approved handgun license to carry a concealed weapon in most buildings at Texas' public universities. They were previously only allowed in public spaces, like sidewalks and quads. But the law also allows schools to propose some carve-outs where guns will be banned.

UT-Austin is the only school in the state that has asked that professors be allowed to ban guns in their offices, but system regents have not yet approved that request. In fact, they delayed making a decision on how to implement the new law at all 14 of their campuses and health institutions because of the flagship's more progressive proposals.

Glass, Carter and Moore say forcing them to allow guns in their classrooms violates their rights to free speech, due process and equal protection. They also argue that campus carry violates their Second Amendment rights "by compelling them as public employees to passively acquiesce in the presence of loaded weaponry in their place of public employment without the individual possession and use of such weaponry in public being well-regulated."

Moore, who is openly gay and spoke at a November protest against the new gun law, said at the time that it reminded her of her struggle for the right to marry.

"We are armed with reason. We are armed with data. We are armed with passion. We are armed with longevity," Moore said at the time. "And we will make this change."

The professors — part of an anti-campus carry group of instructors, staff and students called Gun Free UT — asked the court to stall implementation of the law so it's not in effect when fall classes start next month, and for the court to then permanently block any law that would force them to allow or penalize them for banning handguns in their classrooms.